God Laughs

The following article originally appeared in Thann’s “The Equipped” Weekly Newsletter. For more information on Thann’s weekly email, click here.

God is laughing.

Yes, part of God’s laughter is certainly because of His “great delight in you,” which causes Him to “rejoice over you with singing” (Zeph. 3:17).

Pause just a moment to revel in the Truth of the reality above. God’s rejoicing over you should not be glossed over. It is a blessing of unspeakable magnitude, and in fact is necessary to properly consider the next reason God laughs.

In Psalm 2, we read a whole list of things that could easily be referencing the world around you today:

“The nations conspire” (v. 1).

“The people plot in vain” (v. 1).

“The kings of the earth rise up . . . against the Lord and against His anointed” (v. 2).

These descriptions are relevant at any time and place in history, and the reason that nations, peoples, and kings are constantly at odds with God and His people was plainly stated by Jesus when he stood before Pilate as one accused: “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place” (Jn. 18:36).

So it is true. The turmoil you feel is real. It is real because you live in a kingdom that is at odds with your forever Kingdom. You do not imagine the tension, but rather you feel it accurately because you were created for another place.

And that is why God laughs in verse 4: “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ‘I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.’” 

You are inundated (never more so than in these final weeks leading up to an election) with nations conspiring and people plotting. Your friends and your adversaries alike are telling you that your fate hangs in the balance, and that your security depends on what happens at the ballot box.

My friends, it is a great gift to engage the democratic process, and the decisions made in the strongest and most prosperous nation the world has ever known truly matter. You should care about and participate in your own self-governance, and you should do it with the goal of seeing your communities flourish (Jer. 29:5-7).

However, when you hear the dire warning that your future depends on the next election, remember that your God laughs in response to the plotting and conspiring of people and nations. He laughs because the security He has already claimed for you lies in another Kingdom altogether, and He declares: “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain” (v. 6).

Note the three personal prerogatives: “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” God has already done it. He did not need or ask for permission. It is finished, and the Kingdom to which you belong is already established and governed. His king is on His throne in His Kingdom, and it cannot be shaken.

If you are an American Jesus follower, you should endeavor to faithfully steward your earthly freedom of self-governance over these next few weeks. As you do so, those with you and those against you will ask you to believe that your very foundation is at stake.

It is not. God laughs at the very notion, because His Kingdom is not of this world, and His King is already on the throne.

Thann Bennett

Thann Bennett is the Founder and President of Every Good Work, which exists to equip Jesus followers for a life of impact. His weekly newsletter, The Equipped, helps Jesus followers engage current events through a lens of the True and the beautiful. Thann and his wife, Brooke, are co-Founders of A Fearless Life, which works to find and fund a family for every adoption-eligible foster child in America. Thann has more than two decades of high-level public policy experience, with a particular focus on the U.S. Congress and the United Nations. He is the author of In Search of the King and My Fame His Fame. Thann and Brooke live in southern Maryland with their three children: Jude, Gambrell, and Hope, as well as a host of farm animals. The Bennetts are longtime members of the National Community Church family in Washington, D.C.

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